New Poll And Answers From Nellie & Herman

We have a handful of site updates to announce. First, check out the new Gerbil Poll. We'd like to know what colors of gerbils are your favorite. We'll post the results next Thursday night, December 7th.

Nellie and Herman also want to let everyone know that they've answered several letters from kids about gerbils this week. Nellie answered a question from N. about how much to feed a gerbil each day. Herman answered two letters this week: one from S.K., who wanted to know whether gerbils can run around outside of the tank and one from A., who wanted to know if there's any way to introduce gerbils without a split cage.

Nellie and Herman still have a few more letters to answer, so if they haven't gotten to yours yet, please be patient. They're busy writing letters!

Gerbil Photos With Santa!

Gerbils in Southwest Texas can have their photos taken with Santa!

If you do this, we'd suggest keeping your gerbils in a carrier or a small (5-gallon) glass tank to keep them safe. Also, because the weather can be unpredictable at this time of year, make sure you keep them warm and safe during the drive to have their Christmas photo taken.

New Gerbil Poll & Picture Of The Week

We posted a new Gerbil Poll on Thanksgiving. Make sure you check out this week's Gerbil Poll and let us know how long you've had gerbils. We'll post the results of the poll on Thursday night, November 30th, 2006.

Also, this morning, we added a new Gerbil Picture Of The Week. This week, we have an adorable photo that Marta sent of her gerbil Carl. Thanks, Marta! :)

Gerbil Survives Fire & Needs A Home

There was an article on the King 5 Web site today about a fire in a Seattle pet shop. Only five animals survived the fire. The store owner rescued a rabbit, three guinea pigs, and a gerbil, and she wants to find a home for them in the Seattle area. If you live in the Seattle area, are interested in adopting a gerbil who's survived quite a tragedy and needs a new home, please check out the article about the fire at the Little Amazon Fish And Pet shop.

The gerbil (as well as the other four surviving pets) are now at the Seattle Animal Shelter awaiting adoption. You can find contact information for the shelter along the right side of the shelter's Web site.

Lots Of Gerbil News

There's so much news to report, because I haven't had a chance to update the blog in the past week or so. First, we posted a new Gerbil Poll last Thursday. Stop by and let us know how your gerbils prefer to dig.

Then, on Saturday morning, we added this week's Gerbil Picture Of The Week. This week's photo is of Gus' gerbil Mahler. It's really an adorable photo. Thanks, Gus, for sharing your photo of Mahler!

We've also had some of our own excitement here at Twin Squeaks in the past couple of weeks. Last weekend, Mike and Toby came out of quarantine. (We quarantine all new gerbils in a separate room for a few weeks to ensure that they're very healthy before we put their tank near our other gerbils.)

We're so excited to have Mike and Toby out of quarantine, because now that they're out in one of the main rooms, they're more used to having us around, and they aren't quite so jumpy when they see us walk into a room. Both of them enjoy eating our of my hand now, and most of the time, they're also eager to let me pick them up and hand them a treat before returning them to the tank. Their personalities are evolving, and they've grown so much since I brought them home from the American Gerbil Society's Midwest Show a month ago. The boys are almost three months old now. We'll celebrate their birthday at the beginning of December!

Jo from Black Wolf Clan, the kennel that bred Mike and Toby, emailed me last week to let me know that Mike and Toby are uncles now! They have five new nieces and nephews who were born recently! If they're anything like Mike and Toby, they'll grow up to be very adorable gerbils, I'm sure. :)

The other news is that I've started mixing my own gerbil food for my gerbils, and I've seen a drastic improvement in their coats. Everyone is so soft and fluffy and shiny now. :)

Hope with me Photo by 40 Nights Photography

Saturday, Hope spent about half an hour crawling around on the couch. For a while, she sat in my lap and chewed a toilet paper tube, and while I was sitting on the couch, she also had fun crawling up to my shoulder to look around. I think gerbils are a lot of fun when they get to Hope's age, because they've really learned to trust you, and they're a little bit slower and more mellow than when they were younger. There are just so many bonding opportunities once your gerbils reach that age. They're very sweet.

This isn't to say that the younger gerbils aren't a lot of fun, too. In fact, Herman's been especially fun lately. When I first adopted him from Double Star Kennels in August, he was only about five weeks old, and he loved hopping into my hand and scampering up my arm. Once that I paired him up with Buster, though, Herman was less interested in me and a lot more interested in his new best buddy Buster. Lately, though, Herman's once again running across the tank and leaping up into my hand and waiting for me to lift him out of the tank. It's really adorable, and I'm happy to see that Herman's as friendly and outgoing now as he was when he was a little pup. :)

I also got a really good photo of Nellie last week. You can see it to the right of this paragraph. I felt very fortunate to get this picture, because Nellie sometimes isn't the easiest gerbil to photograph. But the other night, she was quite photogenic. :)

Of course, you can also see more photos of our gerbils in their photo albums.

Wow, well, I think that's about all of the news here at Twin Squeaks. Nellie and Herman have received several letters from kids recently, and I want to assure you that they're working hard to get caught up on their letter writing!

Hope things are going well for all of you and your gerbils!

New Items In The Gerbil Gift Shop

Last week, I wrote that we'd finally gotten around to opening a Twin Squeaks Gerbils Gift Shop, which we'd meant to do for quite a while, because people often email and ask if I know where to find gerbil-related gifts. And they're right. It is really difficult to find good gerbil gifts for humans. Hopefully, the Twin Squeaks Gerbils Gift Shop will make holiday shopping for gerbil enthusiasts a little bit easier this year.

Just a few of the items in the shop include a
“Someone From Mongolia Loves Me” button, a Gerbil's 1st Christmas ornament, a Herman The Gerbil journal, and a set of gerbil Christmas cards. There's also a Gerbil Kids teddy bear. :)

All of the ornaments and Christmas cards in the gerbil gift shop are 25% off the regular price through November 19th.

You'll probably notice that all of the items in the gift shop are more for humans than for gerbils. That's intentional. The best gifts you can give your gerbils are homemade. Gerbils are a lot like human children: Give them a fancy toy, and they spend more time playing with the box it came in than with the toy itself!

At the beginning of December, we will post a new Tip Of The Month that will show you how to make a really fun Christmas gift your gerbils. Be sure to check back next month to see how to spread a little holiday cheer to your gerbils!

Lenny Is Featured In The New Gerbil Picture Of The Week

Make sure you stop by to see the new Gerbil Picture Of The Week. This week's photo is of Marta's gerbil Lenny, who is a nutmeg gerbil.

If you need help photographing your own gerbils, check out the November Gerbil Tip Of The Month, which has several tips for taking better photos of your gerbils!

Twin Squeaks Gerbils Gift Shop Now Open!

We've been planning a Twin Squeaks Gerbils Gift Shop for a while now, because it's really hard to find gifts for gerbil fans. Our friends who love cats and dogs have no trouble finding cat- and dog-related gifts, but wow, it's hard to find gifts that feature gerbils.

So we finally launched the Twin Squeaks Gerbils Gift Shop this morning. So far, we have three items available, but we'll be adding more in the coming days and weeks. Hope you enjoy checking out the items in our gift shop! :)

Zippy Is This Week's Featured Gerbil

Yesterday, we posted the new Gerbil Picture Of The Week. This week's gerbil is Alex's gerbil Zippy, who is hard at work, chewing on a toilet paper tube.

Herman also answered a letter yesterday. L. wanted to know how to keep a pair of gerbils safe, because she has cats in her home. Herman gave some tips for keeping gerbils safe.

What Type Of Cardboard Do You Give Your Gerbils?

For the current Gerbil Poll, we want to know what types of cardboard you give your gerbils to chew. We'll post the results next Thursday night, November 9th.

Learn To Take Better Photos Of Your Gerbils

The November Gerbil Tip Of The Month is online now. In this month's tip, you'll find some tips for taking better photos of your gerbils. If you have a tip for how you take better pictures of your gerbils, feel free to leave a comment on this blog entry or email us and let us know! We'll be happy to share your tips with everyone!

As a side note, you'll also find a few new links on the Gerbil Links page.